Rise of the Rays

Sorry I’ve taken so long to get this up. Here we go. Same stats as with the catchers minus the caught stealing and stolen base percentage. Once again, we have used Bill James projections from http://www.fangraphs.com/. Here are the comparison stats from 2008 and 2009 projected. We will assume that Aubrey Huff and Ty Wigginton [...]

Flickr           (Kennedy is the one on the far right next to Mark Grace)  Per the Heater Kevin Kennedy will be Joe Magrane’s replacement. He worked as a Major League manager with the Rangers and Red Sox.  He most recently worked on the FOX pre-game show (above), which has since been discontinued, and he did the [...]

Now hear me out, because this story does have a Rays connection. Ilya Dall, a woman who had a relationship with Roberto Alomar, is suing him for $15 million, claiming he knew he had AIDS during their relationship and did not protect her.  She hasn’t been with him for two years, and has not tested [...]

This just in from ESPN: Dioner Navarro lost his arbitration case. He had requested arbitration because he felt he deserved $2.5 million.  The Rays set their limit at $2.1 million, a difference that seems unsubstantial, but can be for a low-budget team (which we still are). This afternoon, the arbitrator sided with the Rays. His [...]

Flickr Per the Heater Chad Bradford has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his elbow. He will be out 3-4 months. This means that if both Bradford and Percival start the year on the DL, the Rays could have room for both Jeff Niemann and Jason Hammel. Our bullpen may not be so clogged after all.

Flickr Have you wondered how A-Rod hits all his homers? We may have found the answer.  A report broke over the weekend that A-Rod allegedly took steroids during the 2003 season with the Rangers. He has now confessed in an interview with Peter Gammons. He did take steroids in the 2001-2003 seasons. You can see [...]

Flickr Rays former DH Cliff Floyd has signed a one year $750,000 contract with the San Diego Padres. He will only be able to play spot outfield due to bad knees but he will likely be pinch hitting/ DH in interleague. Floyd got pushed out of a job with the Rays when the Rays signed [...]

I am launching a new series of articles that will compare position by position, the starters of the American League East teams. We will show 2008 stats and 2009 projections. I will then rank the position players 1-5 and then the team they play for will be awarded points on a points system. At the [...]

The Rays have signed 33 year-old third baseman Morgan Ensberg to a minor league contract. He will likely be Durham’s starting third baseman and maybe a pinch hitter for the Rays. This would not surprise me. Rays have often signed people strictly for AAA filler/bench role and they turn into something great. Look at Carlos [...]